Pro-Growth Super Panic: Population Alarmism About Japan Turns Silly

In an amazing barrage, the international press has been filled with reports of a recent study emanating from Tohoku University, Japan. This study, related to Japan having reached a population stabilization, looks at the glass half empty. It concludes that the Japanese people will become extinct…. in 1,000 years. The lead author of the study has created a population clock, in order to chronicle this demographic demise of Japan; he is said to have created the population clock to encourage “urgent” discussion of the issue.

Rather than choose any particular article, I have pasted below a small sampling of the various reports issued in the last several days. Many scores of similar articles appeared all over the world. Click on the headline of any one.

Lack of babies could mean the extinction of the Japanese people
Fox News
Another study recently showed Japan’s population is expected to fall a third from its current 127.7 million over the next century. Government projections show the birth rate will hit just 1.35 children per woman within 50 years, well below the …

Japan population clock shows extinction in 1000 years
Channel News Asia
TOKYO: Japanese researchers have unveiled a population clock that showed the nation’s people could theoretically become extinct in 1000 years because of declining birth rates. Academics in the northern city of Sendai said that Japan’s population of …

Japan population clock shows ‘extinction’ in 1000 years
The Daily Star
By Kyoko Hasegawa TOKYO: Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled a population clock that showed the nation’s people could theoretically become extinct in 1000 years because of declining birth rates. Academics in the northern city of Sendai said that ..

Population clock shows Japanese face extinction in 1000 years
GlobalPost
Japan’s population is expected to shrink by 30 percent by 2060, due to high life expectancy and low birth rates. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images) Japanese could become extinct in 1000 years if current population trends continue, according to …

Researchers: Japan will have no kids under age 15 by 3011
msnbc.com
A population clock developed by the researchers shows the child population count at any given moment based on declining percentages released recently by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, according to a news release by Professor …Japan population clock shows ‘extinction’ in 1000 years
Straits Times
Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled a population clock that showed the nation’s people could theoretically become extinct in 1000 years because of declining birth rates. — PHOTO: REUTERS TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled a …

No Japanese Children in 1000 Years, Study Says
The Epoch Times
By Jack Phillips In just under 1000 years, the Japanese population will have no children under the age of 15, essentially forcing the entire populace into extinction, according to a study released Friday. Researchers with Tohoku University, …